The present description relates generally to the field of concrete placement and transport vehicles (hereinafter “concrete vehicles”), and, in particular, to concrete vehicles that are configured to wirelessly communicate information to an off-board electronic device.
Various vehicles, vehicle types and configurations of vehicles are known for use in placing and transporting concrete. Concrete vehicles typically include a mixing drum rotatably mounted to a chassis. The mixing drum includes mixing blades affixed to the interior of the drum in a spiral pattern to either charge (mix) or discharge concrete. Concrete is moved from an opening in the mixing drum to a desired location using a chute or pumping hose placed at the opening in the mixing drum. A motor mounted to the chassis is used to reversibly rotate the mixing drum for both charging and discharging operations.
In many situations it would be desirable to have an improved concrete vehicles that is capable of wirelessly communicating information related to the chassis and body of the vehicle to an off-board electronic device. Such information may be used to remotely diagnose and monitor the concrete vehicle. For example, in many instances, if there is a problem with the vehicle, the operator is often alerted to the problem only through visual observation. By this time, the concrete vehicle may have sustained significant damage that are expensive to repair. Some of the damage may be prevented and, consequently, the repair costs saved if the operator or other person was alerted to the problem earlier.
It would also be desirable to provide a concrete vehicle that is capable of quickly and efficiently notifying an appropriate person when there is a malfunction aboard the concrete vehicle. In many instances, malfunctions occur that cause significant damage. The damage may have been minimized if the malfunction was discovered earlier. The more that the concrete vehicle is damaged, the more likely it is that the vehicle will need to be taken to a maintenance facility to diagnose and fix the problems. This may result in significant downtime. In other instances, a maintenance technician must be sent to the location of the vehicle to diagnose the problem. This is time consuming and expensive, especially if the vehicle is located a significant distance away when the problem occurs.
It would be desirable to provide a concrete vehicle that provides one or more of these features. Other features and advantages will be made apparent from the present description. The teachings disclosed extend to those embodiments that fall within the scope of the appended claims, regardless of whether they provide one or more of the aforementioned advantages or overcome one of the aforementioned disadvantages.